


Be my Valentine

by DarkShadow_2y5



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 09:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22713979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkShadow_2y5/pseuds/DarkShadow_2y5
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Magnus Bane's date goes horribly wrong. But maybe luck is on his side after all because just when he thinks that his day couldn't possibly get any worse he finds out that his attractive neighbour and secret crush maybe isn't as unattainable for him as he had thought ...
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 3
Kudos: 127





	1. Chapter 1

Magnus Bane hadn't been on a date in a long time. After his high school love Camille Belcourt had broken his heart by cheating on him a few days before the graduation dance he had lost interest in dating and wanted to focus more on his studies instead. He started going to university and majored in architecture. Art had always fascinated him in all its forms so he was very happy with his studies and only concentrated on that from then on, avoiding any kind of possible romance.

Magnus put all of his effort in university and was rewarded with excellent grades he was extremely proud of but at some point he started to feel lonely. He wasn't used to being that isolated all the time, his grumpy cat Church being his only companion after his lectures. In High school he had always been somewhere. He had been partying a lot, making friends with everybody but after graduation everything had changed. 

After dumping Camille Magnus had decided to start a new life and focus on the more important things instead. But he had been alone for so long now that he was slowly starting to get desperate. 

He missed being touched. He missed this special tingle in his stomach only Camille had made him feel until now. He missed being together with somebody who was making him laugh and forget about all of his problems.  
Coming home into his empty apartment everyday was depressing him so Magnus decided to try online dating.

After some searching he eventually found a guy who seemed pretty nice and they started chatting with each other. Three weeks later they were still in contact and Magnus really liked talking to him. It wasn't like in a fairy tale - it was far from that actually - but Magnus decided to give it a try nevertheless and agreed to meet him on Valentine's Day. 

Magnus had just written his final exams for this semester and he definitely deserved a break now. He had spend the last two Valentine's Days all alone, watching TV and eating Delivery Food but this year he finally wanted to have a date again. He desperately needed somebody real, somebody he could really have, instead of silently yearning for this extremely handsome neighbour from next door who had moved in half a year ago.

Magnus had never really talked to him until now because he had been so busy with his studies but he knew nevertheless that hitting on him wouldn't bring him anywhere because his neighbour was unfortunately straight. Also he had a beautiful girlfriend who was visiting him very often so there was no hope for him at all. 

Still Magnus' stupid heart always jumped in his chest like a bouncy ball when he coincidentally met dark, tall and handsome on the hallway.

"Hey" they always said then and smiled at each other. And that was it. Magnus had thought about initiating a real conversation more than once but unfortunately his neighbour always walked away immediately, almost like he was fleeing from him. 

Everytime when it happened again Magnus felt guilty. He was convinced that the other man had noticed the way he was looking at him and that it made him uncomfortable. 

He hated that thought so Magnus tried to keep his distance. He hoped that the man from the dating app would make him forget the one he could never have. That he would be special.  
But unfortunately it turned out that he wasn't. 

When Magnus first saw him when he entered the coffee shop he didn't feel anything. His heart wasn't bouncing and there was no tingle in his stomach. Then Raj started talking and Magnus immediately liked him even less but he didn't want to upset him so he stayed polite and continued the date anyways with a fake smile on his face - until Raj's hand was suddenly lying on his lap.

Immediately Magnus was feeling uncomfortable. "Could you please not do this? I barely know you." 

Raj laughed in response. "Come on, we've been writing for three weeks now and it's Valentine's Day. Don't you want to have a bit of fun?" 

His hand moved even higher but before he could touch him in inappropriate places Magnus grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "Stop. This" he hissed angrily. 

Raj pulled his hand back, now looking pissed off as well. "I don't understand what your problem is. In your profile you wrote that you love adventures." 

"Yeah but I didn't write that I like being touched without consent." 

Raj rolled his eyes. "I didn't think you were such a prude" he said. "So I guess I can't get you to have a threesome with me and my girlfriend then?" 

Magnus couldn't believe what he had just heard. Girlfriend??! Threesome? Was that guy on crack?

Without any hesitation he jumped from his seat, grabbed his coffee and poured it over Raj's extremely expensive looking pants.

"What the fuck?" Raj yelled furiously and Magnus was aware that there were dozens of people staring at them now. But he didn't give a shit about that at the moment.

"That's just what you deserve you asshole" Magnus said coldly. "I can't believe that there's actually a woman who finds you attractive but I definitely don't want to be a part of this. Just looking at you makes me sick so please do me a favor and never contact me again. And by the way - just because I'm bisexual it doesn't mean that I'm just randomly sleeping with everybody. I'm not a slut!"

With that Magnus slammed a five dollar note on the table to pay for his coffee and left the shop without turning around again. 

But unfortunately his run of bad luck didn't end there. In the bus on his way home there was a drunk guy sitting next to him who wailed over the loss of his girlfriend for the whole ride (apparently his Valentine's Day also sucked pretty much) and eventually threw up on his own shoes. Luckily it didn't hit Magnus but the smell was making him sick. 

Then, when he could finally leave the bus again it started raining and until Magnus arrived in front of the apartment building he was living in his clothes were completely drenched. 

By now his mood couldn't get any worse and he wished that he had just stayed in bed this morning. 

He entered the building and wasn't surprised to see a sign which told him that the elevator was not working. A sign which definitely had not been there yet when he had left about 2 hours ago.

"Sure" Magnus mumbled annoyed, while he started climbing up the stairs instead. "Why not? It's not like this day is already the most horrible day I have ever had." 

At this point he just wanted to rip his wet clothes off his body and watch TV for the rest of the day but apparently destiny had something different in store for him.

Magnus was only a few steps away from his apartment when he suddenly saw his neighbour on the hallway in front of him. Magnus' heartbeat stopped for a moment and he couldn't help but stare at the other man, wondering yet again how on earth it was possible that somebody was able to look that attractive in an oversized black sweater and grey leggings. 

Their eyes met and his neighbour smiled shyly. That was distracting Magnus so much that he accidentally missed the last step and kissed the floor right in front of his secret crush.  
Great. At least he wasn't laughing about him.

"Oh my god, did you hurt anything?" he asked instead and immediately came over to Magnus, looking concerned. 

"Just what is left of my pride" Magnus mumbled embarrassed. 

"Are you sure?" Big, brown eyes were looking into his and Magnus forgot how to breathe. 

"Yes I think so. I mean I just had the most horrible day but I'm alright." 

"Oh. I'm sorry about that." 

"Don't be." For a second Magnus thought about ending the conversation there because he didn't want to annoy the other man too long but he didn't seem to be bothered at all so he decided to just give it a try. Things couldn't possibly get worse at this point anyways.

"I'm Magnus by the way" he said. "I know we have seen each other quite often already but I never formally introduced myself."

His neighbour smiled at him. "I'm Alec" he said.

"Short for Alexander?" Magnus guessed and Alec nodded. 

"Yes but usually nobody calls me like that." 

"Oh. Alright, then. Thank you for worrying about me but I'm good" Magnus said and stood up from the floor. "I guess I should just go to bed already and just wait there till this day is finally over. I really hoped my semester break would start off better than that." 

"Oh. Alright. I understand. And I'm still sorry" Alec said. "I hope it gets better soon." 

Magnus laughed and unlocked the door to his apartment. "I really hope so too. And I hope that at least your Valentine's Day is going better than mine. You're probably having a date with your girlfriend later, right?" 

Alec frowned, looking confused. "Uh … no. I'm not … why do you think I have a girlfriend?" he asked and Magnus froze in the middle of the movement. 

'No. Don't get your hopes up' he immediately scolded himself right after that. 'That doesn't change anything. This man would never be interested in you so don't even think about it.'

"I just saw you with that blonde girl quite a lot so I thought that …" 

"Oh. Oh no, that's Lydia. She's just a friend" Alec explained. "I'm all alone today to be honest but I'm already used to it so it's cool I guess." He laughed and ran his hand through his messy black hair, obviously trying to hide his embarrassment. 

Magnus couldn't believe what he had just heard. The most handsome man in the world didn't have a Valentine's Date. 

Suddenly his heart started jumping again and there was no way Magnus could possibly fight against it. 

'Go, Magnus! Do something! Ask him to be your date! Maybe he isn't even straight' a more optimistic and excited voice was screaming now. 

But for some reason he was still hesitating. "When did you have your last date, if I'm allowed to ask?" 

At that Alec blushed. "Actually I've never had a real date" he admitted and looked down at his hands. 

Magnus' jaw dropped. What the actual hell?  
"Excuse me?" 

Alec shrugged in response, still avoiding his eyes. "People just don't see me I guess" he said quietly. 

"Then they're being incredibly stupid." 

Surprised Alec raised his head again. "You really think so?" 

The hopeful look in his eyes was killing Magnus so he decided to just fuck everything. He would have a date with Alec now because he knew exactly that if he let this incredible chance pass he would hate himself for it later. 

"Do you maybe want to come in and stay for dinner?" Magnus asked. "We could cook together and watch a movie afterwards." 

Alec's eyes went wide. Obviously he had not expected this. "Oh … uh … sure" he said and Magnus felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. "That sounds great."


	2. Chapter 2

Magnus let Alec inside and closed the door behind him. "Sorry, it still looks a bit messy in here but I wasn't expecting any visitors today" he apologized, while he was taking his shoes off. During his exam weeks he hadn't had enough time (or energy) to clean his room so most of his books and papers were still scattered on the coffee table in front of the TV. Also a few empty boxes of takeaway food were still lying around on the kitchen counter. He just hoped that it didn't start to smell funny in here because of it.

"Oh that's no problem" Alexander said. "I guess you have been studying a lot in the last few weeks." 

"Yes, that's true" Magnus said with a laugh. "I'm just glad that I have some time to relax now becau- OH MY GOD!" 

Magnus' laugh turned into a horrified screech when he saw his reflection in the mirror next to the front door. He looked absolutely horrible - his hair and makeup completely ruined by the rain and his clothes hanging down on him like a wet washcloth. He couldn't believe that he had really invited the most beautiful man he had ever seen on a date looking like that. And he couldn't believe that said man had actually accepted his invitation without laughing about him. Even now he still didn't seem to understand what Magnus' problem was in the first place. 

"What's the matter?" he asked, sounding shocked and confused at the same time. 

"You're seriously asking this?! Look at me! I look like a complete nightmare. Sorry but I have to go to the bathroom and fix this. I need to take a shower and I have to put on fresh clothes … it might take a while so why don't you sit down on the sofa and think about what you want to eat in the meantime. But maybe nothing too exceptional cause then we would need to buy ingredients first … oh by the way - are you allergic to something? Are you vegetarian? Vegan? Lactose-intolerant?" 

"Uh, no. Nothing of these. I eat almost everything actually" Alec said, sounding slightly overwhelmed by Magnus' gush of words. 

"Great. That's good. So wait here till I come back again, okay?" 

Alec nodded and Magnus gave him a thankful smile before he quickly disappeared into the bathroom. 

He showered as fast as possible and put on some fresh clothes. For a date he was normally always putting on makeup as well but Magnus didn't want to let Alec wait too long so he decided to just go all natural today, even though it made him feel slightly nervous. 

When he eventually stepped out of the bathroom Alexander was still sitting on the sofa and read in one of Magnus' books about architecture. 

"And?" Magnus asked, stepping behind him and looking over his shoulder. "I hope you haven't bored yourself to death yet." 

"No, not at all. Actually this book is quite interesti-" He interrupted himself when his eyes fell on Magnus' appearance and his eyes widened.

"Oh, wow" he said and blushed as soon as the words had left his mouth, lying the book in his hands back on the table again. "You look so …" 

"Naked?" Magnus suggested and suddenly felt the urge to hide somewhere. Normally he was always perfectly styled for a date and he wanted to look good for Alec, even though this whole thing was pretty spontaneous. 

"I just wanted to say different" Alec said, sounding coy. "I think I have never seen you without eyeliner before." 

"That's because I never leave the house without spending at least one hour in the bathroom before. But I didn't want to let you wait that long so I thought I'll just go like that today. You better feel honored that I let you see me like that on our first date already." 

Alec made a weird noise that almost sounded like he was choking on something. "This … this really is a date then?" he asked incredulously. 

"Yes of course. What did you think?" 

"I … uh … I don't know. I guess I assumed you were just feeling sorry for me because I'm alone on Valentine's Day" Alec mumbled. "Or because I've never had a date before." 

"No, of course not. Gosh, I can't believe I really have to tell you this but have you looked into a mirror lately?" Magnus asked, making his date blush even more. 

"So … uh … I thought we could maybe cook spaghetti?" Alec suggested, obviously trying to change the topic and move the focus away from him again. "That doesn't take too long and is easy to cook. I do have a special recipe for the sauce though." 

Magnus smiled. "That sounds very good, I think." 

"Really? Great. I need one or two special things for that but I have the ingredients in my apartment so I'm just quickly going to get them." 

And before Magnus could say something in return Alexander was already gone.   
Magnus shook his head and chuckled. This man wasn't just hot as hell but also fucking adorable. And if he could really cook he would marry him right on the spot.

\-----------------

"Wow this was absolutely delicious" Magnus moaned when they were sitting at the kitchen table together about one hour later and licked his lips after finishing his last plate. Alexander's special sauce was probably the best thing he had eaten within the last two month. "How on earth is it possible that you're still single when you can cook like that?" 

Alec shrugged, looking flattered. "The original recipe is from my grandmother but I changed it a bit to spice things up." 

Speaking about spicing things up … now that they had finished the main course Magnus was very much in the mood for dessert. 

But he didn't want to rush things so he asked if Alec maybe wanted to drink a glass of wine on the balcony and his date agreed.

Magnus' balcony wasn't exactly big but it was roofed and there was enough space for two comfortable chairs and a little table on it.

Excited he grabbed two glasses and a bottle of wine before he eventually joined Alexander outside. It was dark by now and it had stopped raining again so the atmosphere was very peaceful. "Wow, this is a really nice balcony you have there" Alec said and sat down on one of the chairs. 

Magnus sat down on the other chair and they started talking. Soon Magnus knew that Alec had three siblings and that he was training to become a police officer. The thought of him in a uniform made Magnus blush so he quickly pushed the picture aside again for the moment. 

He told Alec about his studies and his love for cats instead and eventually also about his unsuccessful date earlier. 

"Gosh that really sounds horrible" Alec said.   
"But I would have loved to see that guys face when you poured your coffee over his pants." He chuckled quietly and Magnus grinned. The wine seemed to make Alexander more relaxed and talkative and he really liked that.

"Yeah that really was amusing." Magnus giggled. "I just hope I don't have to see that guy ever again. Funny how this day started so horrible and ended with us two sitting here." 

"I guess that's a good thing then." 

"Of course it is." Magnus looked over to Alec and got lost in his eyes. "Actually I've wanted this for a long time already" he admitted. 

Apparently the wine was also making him more talkative. "A date with you, I mean. But I thought you were in a relationship already and that I was creeping you out by staring at you everytime we met. You always run away so quickly that I thought you were fleeing from me." 

For a moment neither of them said a word and Magnus already started worrying that maybe he had done something wrong but then Alec said: "I was just running away from you because I didn't know how to talk to you   
without completely embarrassing myself." 

Surprised Magnus raised his eyebrows. "Really?" 

Alec nodded. "I never would have thought that you could be interested in me." 

"But I am. Now even more than before" Magnus said truthfully. 

He looked deep into Alec's eyes and saw how he swallowed. "I've always wanted to kiss you" he said quietly and Magnus was sure that in this moment he was the luckiest man on earth. 

"Then why don't you do it?" he asked, his whole body already tingling with excitement.

"Cause I'm a coward I guess." Alec chuckled nervously. 

"I promise I won't pour my drink over you when you touch me if that's what you're worrying about." 

Alec laughed. "Okay then." He put his glass away and slowly leaned over to Magnus until their lips were almost touching and Magnus could feel his breath on his face. "Happy Valentine's Day, Magnus" he whispered and before Magnus could answer Alec had already put his lips on his. 

The kiss was warm and sweet and soft and rather short but then Alec kissed him again and this time he was more confident already. Magnus felt the tingle spread from his stomach into all other parts of his body and with a little moan on his lips his eyes fell shut. He deepened the kiss and cupped Alec's face with the palm of his hand. 

This was exactly what he had been hoping for, what he had been dreaming about. It was almost too good to be true. He was here with Alec and they were kissing each other and it felt completely overwhelming. Alec was an excellent kisser but it wasn't just that - kissing him felt so right. It felt like it was meant to be. 

'Maybe life really is like a fairy tale sometimes' Magnus thought happily. 

"I think this is the best Valentine's Day I have ever had" Magnus mumbled, when they seperated for a moment in order to catch their breath. 

"Same goes for me. What about the movie you wanted to watch though?" 

"Do you really feel like watching a movie now?" Magnus asked back. 

"Honestly? No. I would rather continue kissing you." 

"I think that sounds a lot better." 

Alec grinned and a few seconds later they were kissing again. 

Magnus had no idea what would happen after this evening but he knew that he wanted Alec in his life. He wanted to keep seeing him. He wanted to take him on more dates, wanted to make him laugh. 

Maybe it was too early to think this but Magnus felt like the thing with Alec could have a future. But for today he was just enjoying the here and now, concentrating on the sweet taste of Alec's lips and his soft skin under his fingers. 

For today Alec was his Valentine. 

THE END


End file.
